Gratitude
by Satan Abraham
Summary: They want me to stay away from my brother. But Fujisaki won't turn me away, will he? He must understand. [slight ishida/alter ego] [oneshot] [rated t for language]


They said that I shouldn't try to talk to my brother.

They said that I should just _stay away _from the computer, even though that's my _brother _in there, my _fucking _brother that Chihiro – or Alter Ego, did the computer call itself? – either way, they think that it's dangerous. I wouldn't do anything to hurt my brother, or even Alter Ego.

I don't think that Alter Ego would mind, really. Why would it keep me away from my own brother? I could understand it wanting to… wanting to stay away from that stupid _pig_, with the drooling and the obsession.

But I… I just want to see my brother? Is that so wrong? I'm keeping him alive, that's true, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to see him.

So I've been thinking. At night time, when they're all asleep – it's Night Time, it's against the rules, it's going to be worth it – I'm just going to head for the place that they put the laptop. I'm going to ask Alter Ego if I can see my brother.

Hopefully, I'll think to leave before one of them shows up.

It's not hard to get to the locker room. I'd thought that they'd take more precautions – have Oogami guard, maybe, but maybe she's tired. It doesn't matter. It makes it easier for me.

As soon as I turn on the computer I can see Chihiro Fujisaki's face get ready to yell.

"No!" I snap, and the face pauses. Awkward, I try to make her – him, though, the trial said that Fujisaki was male – understand. "I just… I need to see my brother."

"I was told-"

"And I'm telling you that I need to see my brother!"

If possible, he looks like he's about to cry. I didn't know that computers could cry, but, if this is the spirit of Fujisaki, sharing the computer with Mondo, then perhaps he can. The computer seems to process it for a minute – it seems like longer, much longer, I'm paranoid that someone will come in and take my brother away from me forever – then beeps.

"I'm sorry for the wait!" Fujisaki chirps, and I feel a bit of warmth for the boy that I haven't before. To be honest, I hadn't paid much attention to Chihiro Fujisaki when he was there, in physical form, but he can't be bad if he is letting me speak with my brother when the others told him not too.

And he trusted Mondo in the first place, to train him.

Fujisaki's death was an accident. I can't believe anything else.

I speak with Mondo for a while. I lose track of time when I talk to him, like always, and it's… it's better than speaking with the others, who look at me like I'm crazy and jump whenever they hear me swear, like they're not used to me. They knew Kiyotaka Ishimaru before, they knew Mondo Oowada before.

It isn't that hard to put the two of us together. We fit. We fit when both of us were alive, and now both of us fit inside Ishimaru's body. Ishida. It's a perfectly acceptable last name, as well. If we weren't meant to be one at one point, then why would our names fit so perfectly together?

I say my goodbyes after an hour or two, or maybe three. Fujisaki blinks back onto the screen. "I hope this helped!" he says, and I smile, because it has helped. I feel better. I have even more of a hold on the Mondo side, now, after speaking with him again.

"Thank you," I say, and my voice is strangely soft. Fujisaki looks startled, too, but he recovers quickly, smiling brightly.

"Thank you, Ishida!" he says, and it's awkward. I want to thank him more, somehow, but a glance at the clock tells me that I should go. Fujisaki speaks again. "It's nice, to hear about what you and Oowada-kun did together. I enjoy listening to it."

I nod. "I… I miss it. It… my brother… he… fuck…" I trail off, and Fujisaki's head bounces up and down frantically. I swallow. Get ahold of myself. The time for sobbing over Mondo Oowada is over, because I am half of him now. It doesn't make sense. "It's fine, now. Ishimaru and Oowada, Ishida. It works well."

"It does," Fujisaki agrees. I look at the clock again. I should go. I really should go. I put the computer down and set to power it down. "Ishida?"

I pause.

"Please come again!"

I nod and power the computer down, exiting the locker room and heading back to my rooms. I switch between Kiyotaka's room and Mondo's room, switching whenever I feel like I need a change.

Kiyotaka's room is often easier, however. There are less awkward questions and pitying looks when I enter Kiyotaka Ishimaru's room.

Hopefully I will speak with Mondo again soon – and Chihiro Fujisaki. Because that short, awkward conversation with him was definitely not the worst I'd ever had.

* * *

**Alright, so someone on Tumblr wanted an Ishida/Alter Ego fic, which I wasn't really sure how to go about doing it(ishida's still easier than komaeda by the way at least he's half the guy i know how to write), so I decided to kind of use Mondo as a middle-man? I don't know. I also haven't written in first person for forever, so that's weird. Um.**

**Yeah. This is… **

**Ishida was definitely interesting to write. Sort of reminiscent of my Lord of the Flies days, and writing Healing – all of Roger's POVs were kind of screwy, too. **


End file.
